ABSTRACT
Beginning with petty wrangles over the seating plan, the Geneva Conference on Indochina was a diplomatic marathon that lasted for seventyseven days. Adamant that the US delegates could not sit at the same table as their Chinese counterparts, Dulles demanded that each delegation sit at its own desk, separated from the other by a small space and arranged in “U” formation. Dien Bien Phu, unproductive negotiations on Korea, and intense suspicions combined to produce an unpleasant atmosphere in Geneva. The Americans’ aversion to any contact with the Chinese and DRV representatives and the morbid political climate in France kept informal contacts to a minimum. Even by Cold War standards, the meeting was a gloomy business.
